REPORT  OF  THE  COMMISSIONERS 


ON  THE 


COKEECT  AEMS 


OF  THE 


STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


WITH  APPENDIX: 


Letter    of  H.    A,   HOMES   to   the  Cominissioners. 


TRANSMITTED    TO    THE   SENATE   APRIL   13,  1881. 


ALBANt : 

WEED,  PARSONS  AND  COMPANY. 

1881. 


A\  i  in'  Arc  iin  i  c  Ti'KAi.  and  Fini;  Arts  Iji^rarn 
(ill  I  oi  Si  ^Moi  K  B.  Di  Rsi  ()i  I)  York  Lihr  \in 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  hook 

Because  it  has  heen  said 
" Ever' thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  hook." 


C 


KEl'ORT  OF  THE  COMMISSIONEllS 


ON  THE 


CORRECT  ARMS 


OF  THE 


STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


TRANSMITTED    TO    THE   SENATE   APRIL   13,  1881. 


ALBANY: 

WEED,  PARSONS  AND  COMPANY,  PRINTERS. 
1881. 


I 


LIST  OF  PLATES. 


1.  Fac  simile  of  the  Arms  of  New  York  on  a  military  commission  of  1778. 

2.  Cop3^  of  painting  of  the  Arms  of  New  York  from  a  flag  of  a  New  York 

regiment  of  1778. 

3.  Copy  of  the  painting  of  tlie  Arms  of  New  York  suspended  over  Governor 

Clinton's  pew  in  St.  Paul's  Cliapel,  New  York  city,  in  1785. 

4.  Arms  of  the  State  of  New  York  as  restored  by  the  commissioners  from 

the  above  three  specimens  and  from  the  original  Great  Seal  of  the 
State,  May,  1881. 


STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 


No.  fil. 


IN  SENATE 

April  18,  1881. 


REPORT 

OF  THE  COMMISSIONERS  ON  THE  CORRECT  ARMS  OF 
THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK. 

STATE  OF  NEW  YORK: 

Executive  Chaaiber,  ) 
Albany,  March  31,  1881.  f 

To  the  Senate : 

The  report  of  tlie  Governor,  Secretary  of  State  and  Comptroller, 
on  the  correct  Arms  of  the  State  of  New  York,  under  resolu- 
tions of  the  Senate  of  May  21,  1880,  is  herewith  respectfully  trans- 
mitted. 

ALONZO  B.  CORNELL. 


Digitized  by 

the  Internet  Archive 

in  2013 

http://archive.org/details/reportofcommissi00newy_2 


REPORT. 


Under  the  following  resolutions  of  the  Senate  at  the  last  session 
of  the  Legislature,  tlie  undersigned  were  appointed  commissioners 
to  report  an  exact  description  of  the  arms  of  the  State  of  New 
York  as  established  by  law ;  and  also  to  recommend  measures  for 
maintaining  the  use  of  the  arms  with  correctness  : 

"  State  of  New  York,  in  Senate,  ) 
Albany,  Mmj  21,  1880.  \ 

"  Whereas,  In  view  of  the  variations  in  the  current  representa- 
tions of  the  State  arms,  and  of  the  uncertainty  in  respect  to  the 
correct  device  thereof  as  adopted  by  law,  March  16,  1778,  the  State 
has  recently  made  two  special  appropriations  of  money  to  obtain 
early  copies  of  this  device,  which  are  now  in  the  State  library,  with 
an  engraving  of  the  arms  executed  within  three  months  of  the  pass- 
age of  said  law  ;  and, 

Whereas,  It  is  important  to  bring  these  efforts  to  a  practical 
conclusion ;  therefore, 

"  Resolved^  That  the  Governor,  the  Secretary  of  State  and  the 
Comptroller  be,  and  they  are  hereby  appointed  commissioners  to 
ascertain  and  report  to  the  next  Legislature  an  exact  description  of 
the  device  of  arms  so  established  by  law,  as  obtained  by  a  com- 
parison of  these  or  other  early  copies  of  the  said  arms. 

"  Resolved^  That  the  said  commissioners  also  report  such  measures 
as  shall  tend  to  perpetuate  a  knowledge  of  the  correct  arms,  and  as 
to  the  propriety  of  extending  the  use  thereof  in  the  public  offices, 
and  in  tlie  community  without  alteration;  and  as  to  the  expediency 
of  placing  the  arms  upon  the  great  seal  of  the  State  and  the  seals 
of  the  departments,  and  of  all  such  offices  as  issue  papers  with  the 
authority  of  an  official  seal,  as  the  appropriate  symbol  of  the  au- 
thority of  the  State." 

The  section  of  the  statute  of  March  16, 1778,  relating  to  the  arms 
referred  to  in  the  preamble  to  these  resolutions,  is  as  follows: 

"  x\nd,  whereas,  arms  have  been  devised  for  this  State,  and  two 
several  seals  have  been  devised  and  made,  one  of  the  said  seals  as 
and  for  the  great  seal,  and  the  other  as  and  for  the  privy  seal  of 
this  State  (and  which  said  seals  are  now  in  the  custody  and  possess 
ion  of  his  excellency  the  present  Governor)  : 

"  Be  it  therefore  furthei-  enacted,  by  the  authority  aforesaid,  that 


8 


[Sknate 


the  said  arms  and  seals  shall  severally  he,  and  they  are  herehy  re- 
spectively declared  to  he  the  arms,  the  <j;'i-cat  seal  and  the  privy  seal 
of  this  State/' 

It  is  siihseqnently  added  in  the  same  section,  that  such  mattei's  as 
wore  issued  under  the  seal  at  arms  of  the  Governor  of  the  colony 
shall  issue  under  the  new  seal.  A  clause  in  section  5  of  the 
same  general  law  recpiires  the  person  administering  the  o'ovcrnment, 
to  ''deliver  to  the  Secretary  of  the  State  descriptions  of  the  device 
of  the  said  arms  and  seals,  hereby  declared  to  he  the  arms,  the  great 
seal  and  the  privy  seal."  These  clauses  here  cited  are  all  of  those 
in  the  law  wherein  the  arms  of  the  State  are  named. 

Laws  passed  in  the  years  1780,  1798,  1801,  1S09,  18i;i  and  the 
embodiments  of  them  in  the  Revised  Statutes  which  make  mention 
of  the  arms  or  seals,  with  one  exception,  all  refer  to  a  ''description 
in  writing  of  the  arms  and  of  the  great  and  privy  seal  of  this  State 
recorded  and  deposited  in  the  ofiice  of  the  Secretary  of  this  State." 

This  emphatic  declaration,  that  there  is  deposited  and  recorded  in 
the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State  a  description  of  the  arms  of  the 
State,  lias  been  repeated  many  times  in  successive  laws,  and  the  last 
time  was  in  a  law  regarding  the  great  seal  of  the  State,  enacted  by 
the  Legislature  of  18S0.  In  view  of  this  reiteration  of  an  alleged 
fact,  searches  have  been  repeatedly  made  in  the  Secretary  of  State's 
office,  during  the  last  thirty  years,  to  discover  such  a  description  of 
the  arms,  but  nothing  has  i)een  found  in  anywise  responding  to  one, 
except  a  very  brief  memorandum  describing  the  "new  great  seal  " 
of  1809,  in  words  entirely  insufficient  to  construct  therefrom  an 
achievement  of  the  complete  arms  of  the  State.  Nor  has  any 
printed  description  of  the  arms  been  discovered  in  documents  pub- 
lished by  the  State  or  elsewhere.  There  is  no  evidence  in  the  laws 
referred  to,  nor  in  any  other  laws  of  the  State,  that  the  arms  have 
been  changed  by  statute. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  the  commissioners,  acting  in  accord- 
ance with  the  requirements  of  these  resolutions,  cannot  expect  to 
obtain  a  description  of  the  arms  from  any  of  the  public  offices  at  the 
capital;  and  that  their  dependence  must  be  npon  the  three  early 
representations  of  the  arms  which  have  been  brought  into  notice 
with  the  National  Centennial  of  1876,  and  which  are  referred  to  in 
these  same  resolutions;  and  such  corroboration  of  them  as  may  be 
afforded  by  subsequent  pictures  to  be  found  in  early  editions  of  the 
laws,  and  in  the  journals  of  the  Legislature. 

These  being  the  facts  regarding  the  arms,  we  are  requested  to 
report  an  exact  description  of  the  vievice  of  arms  established  in  1778, 
and  to  recommend  measures  tending  to  perpetuate  their  use  cor- 
rectly. 

The  commissioners  are  glad  to  tind  that,  notwithstanding  the 
recognized  absence  of  a  written  description  of  the  arms,  the  want  is 
in  all  probability  supplied  with  a  sufficient  degree  for  exactness  by 
these  three  representations  of  them  just  mentioned,  each  one  of 
which  possesses  some  measure  of  official  authority.    They  ai-e  : 


JSTo.  61.] 


9 


First.  Engraved  military  commissions  issued  by  the  State  in 
Second.  The  flag  of  the  New  York  regiment  of  Col.  Gansevoort 
of  1778  or  1779. 

Third.  The  painting  suspended  over  the  pew  of  Gov.  George 
Clinton  in  St.  Paul's  Chapel,  New  York,  in  1785. 

The  third  of  these  specimens,  previous  to  the  Centennial  of  1876, 
was  supposed  to  be  the  earliest  example  in  existence  of  the  original 
State  arms.  When,  a  year  or  two  later,  the  military  commission 
and  the  New  York  flag  of  the  Rewlution  were  brought  to  light, 
each  having  an  independent  history,  and  when  public  attention  had 
been  directed  to  their  character,  considerable  time  elapsed  before 
they  were  viewed  in  their  true  relations,  and  before  their  pre- 
eminent value  as  witnesses  regarding  the  true  arms  was  acknowl- 
edged. Gradually  an  increasing  value  has  been  accorded  to  them, 
which  they  might  not  have  received  if  endeavors  were  not  being 
made  to  establish  the  true  arms.  We  are  now  convinced  that  the 
original  State  arms  can  be  reconstructed  or  reaffirmed  with  the  help 
of  these  three  examples,  with  no  important  variations  from  the 
device  of  March  16,  1778. 

"Yh^  first  of  these  specimens,  the  arms  as  engraved  upon  military 
commissions,  must  have  been  engraved  at  Poughkeepsie  immediately 
upon  the  j)assage  of  the  law,  as  some  of  the  existing  copies  were 
issued  as  early  as  June,  three  months  after  its  adoption.  Attention 
was  flrst  called  to  this  specimen  by  Mr.  Edward  F.  De  Lancey,  now 
president  of  the  St.  Nicholas  Society  of  New  York  city.  It  may 
well  be  mentioned  here  that  Mr.  De  Lancey  also  appeared  before 
the  commissioners  and  made  statements  regarding  his  knowledge  of 
the  subject.  It  was  supposed  at  the  time  by  the  gentleman.  Rev. 
J.  H.  Frasee,  who  brought  it  to  him,  that  it  might  be  unique. 
During  the  past  year,  however,  upon  untying  files  of  papers  in  the 
office  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  a  considerable  number  of  such  mili- 
tary commissions,  perfect  in  every  particular,  have  been  discovered. 
Other  copies  have  been  given  to  the  State  Librarj^  by  citizens,  and 
are  also  known  to  be  in  the  possession  of  individuals,  thus  estab- 
lishing clearly  the  fact,  which  had  been  doubted  by  some  persons, 
that  this  engraved  commission  was  in  common  use. 

Nor  was  the  use  of  it  limited  to  the  military  department.  It  was 
used  also  on  civil  commissions.  Among  the  papers  on  file  in  the 
record  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  there  is  an  engraved  heading 
of  a  civil  commission  with  the  arms,  identical  with  the  heading  of 
the  military  commission,  printed  upon  parchment,  recorded  August 
17,  1778,  being  a  commission  to  General  Philip  Schuyler  to  be  a 
delegate  from  New  York  to  the  (Jontinental  Congress,  thus  estab- 
lishing the  fact  that  this  was  the  received  drawing  of  the  arms  for 
use  in  the  civil  service  of  the  government.  The  arms  were  en- 
graved inside  of  the  initial  letter  T,  the  first  letter  of  the  first 
word  of  the  commission:  "The  People  of  the  State  of  New 
York." 

The  origin  of  this  picture,  so  far  as  known,  and  briefly  told,  is  as 


10 


[Senate 


follows:  In  the  ProviiKjial  Congress,  April  15,  1777,  Messrs.  John 
Jay,  Lewis  Morris  and  John  Sloss  Hobart  were  aj)pointed  a  com- 
mittee to  ])repare  a  ])roper  device  for  a  great  seal  for  the  State.  On 
September  10  of  the  same  year,  Gov.  Clinton  and  Chancellor  Liv- 
ingston were  appointed  to  attend  to  the  same  duty,  and  to  order  a 
seal  to  be  made;  and  it  was  voted  that  in  the  meantime  the  seal  of 
the  Governor  ne  the  great  seal  of  the  State.  It  a])poai-s  by  the 
journal  of  this  Congress,  December  1777,  that  the  seal  was  ac- 
tually finished  in  that  year.  It  was  this  seal  which  served  as  a  basis 
for  the  "  arms  complete  "  which  were  adopted  in  the  law  of  March 
16,  1778.  This  law,  employing  the  word  arms  for  the  first  time  in 
connection  with  the  seals,  announces  that  both  arms  and  seal  hav^e 
been  already  prepared.  There  is  no  record,  so  far  as  is  known, 
showing  what  was  the  measure  of  co-operation  of  any  one  of  these 
five  men.  Jay,  Morris,  Hobart,  Clinton  and  Livingston,  in  produc- 
ing the  device  of  arms  as  we  this  day  find  it,  and  with  which  their 
honoi'ed  names  will  be  forever  associated.  But  we  see  that  the 
shield  of  the  arms,  as  adopted  in  March,  is  nearly  identical  with  the 
seal  accepted  three  months  previous,  in  December.  Hence,  the  rep- 
resentation of  the  arms  engraved  on  the  military  commission  under 
the  eyes  of  Gov.  Clinton,  and  issued  by  his  authority  as  chief  execu- 
tive of  the  State,  in  consideration  of  its  precedence  in  time  of  both 
the  other  pictures,  acquires  a  high  degree  of  weight  as  a  witness  as 
to  what  were  the  original  arms. 

The  second  specimen,  the  Flag  of  the  Third  New  Yoi'k  Regiment, 
was  borne  by  that  regiment,  when  commanded  by  Col.  Peter 
Gansevoort,  Jr.,  of  Albany,  during  the  Revolutionary  war.  This 
flag  is  reported  to  have  been  given  to  this  regiment  in  consequence 
of  its  having  made  a  successful  sortie  from  Fort  Stanwix  in  1777, 
provided  with  a  very  rude,  extemporized  flag.  It  is  still  carefully 
preserved  in  the  family  of  his  direct  descendant,  Mrs.  Abraham 
Lansing,  of  Albany,  and  a  copy  of  it  has  been  made  in  oil  colors  by 
her  consent,  and  may  be  seen  in  the  State  Library.  The  appropria- 
tion made  by  the  State  in  1879  for  this  painting  was  for  a  copy  of 
the  flag  "  borne  at  the  surrender  of  Yorktown  in  1781."  Sume 
doubt  has  been  thrown  upon  this  assumption,  yet  the  evidence  which 
has  been  adduced  to  show  that  the  flag  existed  at  a  still  earlier  date, 
enhances  its  value  as  a  witness  to  the  original  arms,  just  in  propor- 
tion as  the  date  when  it  was  painted  a])proaches  the  year  1778.  The 
arms  are  carefully  and  flnely  painted  upon  both  sides  of  the  silk, 
which  is  of  dark  blue,  and  about  seven  feet  square.  The  arms  com- 
plete cover  a  space  upon  its  surface  about  four  feet  and  four  inches 
wide  by  three  feet  Ave  inches  high  ;  the  two  supporters  are  each 
two  feet  and  two  and  a  half  inches  high. 

The  third  and  last  specimen  is  the  painting  suspended  in  St. 
Paul's  chapel  in  New  York  city  in  1785.  This  picture  of  the  arms 
was  painted  in  colors  upon  canvas  and  measures  sixty-seven  by 
forty-five  inches.  It  is  suspended  against  the  wall  of  the  chapel  to 
this  day.    When  it  became  necessary,  under  the  law  of  the  State  of 


No.  61.] 


11 


1875,  to  prepare  a  suitable  representation  of  the  arms  to  be  sus- 
pended at  the  Centennial  of  1876  with  the  arms  of  the  thirteen 
original  States,  in  Independence  Hall  in  Philadelphia,  no  earlier 
picture  of  the  arms  was  known  which  could  aid  in  the  undertaking. 
This  St.  Paul's  chapel  picture  differs  in  several  particulars  from  the 
first  two  specimens.  '  The  painter  indulged  his  fancy  by  surround 
ing  the  shield  with  garlands  of  flowers  and  large  and  small  fruits, 
introducing  at  the  base  sheaves  of  grain.  Within  the  shield  he 
painted  only  a  calm  sea  and  a  brilliant  sun,  giving  neither  the  three 
mountains  nor  the  land  at  the  base  of  the  shield.  Representations 
of  the  New  York  arms,  based  upon  that  picture  alone,  cannot  be 
regarded  as  complete,  nor  exact.  In  constructing  a  device  of  the 
arms  under  the  law  of  1875,  this  picture  and  vignettes  placed  by 
the  printers  on  the  title  pages  of  the  edition  of  the  laws  of  1787, 
and  of  the  journal  of  the  Senate  of  1792  served  as  guides,  and  copies 
so  drawn  were  placed  in  Independence  Hall  and  in  the  State 
Library.  We  are  aware  that  it  has  been  claimed  that  the  greater 
simplicity  of  the  shield  of  this  picture,  containing  solely  the  sea  and 
the  sun,  constitutes  of  itself  a  conclusive  argument  that  it  approaches 
nearest  to  the  original  device.  In  the  presence,  however,  of  these 
two  earlier  specimens,  and  with  the  evidence  of  the  positive  official 
use  of  both  of  them,  we  cannot  concede  the  claim  to  be  well 
founded. 

We  have  had  before  us  these  three  specimens,  the  military  com- 
mission, a  copy  of  the  flag,  and  an  exact  copy  of  the  St.  Paul's 
chapel  painting,  which  we  secured  to  be  especially  painted  for  the 
State  Library.  On  comparing  them  together,  each  one  of  them  is 
discovered  to  possess  traits  not  to  be  found  in  both  of  the  others  ; 
but  the  differences  betwen  them  are  as  nothing  when  compared  with 
the  sum  of  the  resemblances.  We  are  unable  to  account  for  these 
divergences,  otherwise  than  in  the  fancy  or  convenience  of  the 
artist.  We  are  disposed  to  recommend  the  second  specimen,  the 
regimental  flag,  as  most  worthy  of  preference  as  a  basis  for  the 
arms,  for  the  reason  that  while  it  is  of  an  unquestioned  early  date,  it 
has  more  of  beauty  and  grace  than  the  commission,  and  at  the 
same  time  conveys  information  regarding  the  colors  employed  on 
the  shield,  supporters  and  crest,  which  the  engraver  of  the  first 
specimen  did  not  give,  either  on  account  of  his  carelessness  or  of  his 
ignorance  of  the  heraldic  method  of  indicating  color  by  dots  and 
lines.  He  multij^lied  slightly  other  variations,  being  trammeled  in 
his  work  from  the  necessity  of  adapting  his  picture  to  the  limita- 
tions within  which  he  must  design  it  inside  of  the  initial  letter  T. 

The  chapel  painting  is  of  a  date  at  least  eight  yeai-s  later  than  the 
first  specimen,  and  although  it  might  be  inferred  that  it  would 
be  an  all-sufficient  witness  as  to  what  were  the  genuine  arms,  from 
the  fact  that  it  was  suspended  over  the  pew  of  Governor  Clinton, 
yet  it  loses  much  of  its  authority  on  the  other  hand  from  the  fact 
that  it  omits  the  three  mountains,  which  were  upon  the  other  two 
and  earlier  specimens  of  the  arms,  and  also  upon  the  gi*eat  seal  of 


12 


[Senate 


1778  and  all  subsequent  seals.  That  the  artist  who  painted  it  in- 
dulged freely  in  his  own  ideas  of  beauty,  we  liave  previously  shown 
when  describing  his  mode  of  decorating  the  shield  with  ornaments 
not  found  upon  either  of  the  other  specimens.  But  still  further,  he 
placed  under  the  crown,  at  the  foot  of  Liberty,  both  a  sword  and  a 
sceptre,  whereas,  each  of  the  other  specimens  has  the  crown  alone 
at  the  foot  of  Liberty. 

From  the  three  sketches  of  these  three  representations  of  the  arms, 
which  accompany  this  report,  it  will  be  seen  that  both  the  regimental 
flag  and  the  chapel  painting  differ  from  the  military  commission  in 
that  they  extend  the  water  to  the  base  of  the  shield,  and  that  tlie 
commission  has  a  fringe  of  meadow-land  at  the  base.  Hence,  if 
nothing  were  to  be  retained  in  the  arms,  except  that  which  has  the 
testimony  of  two  of  these  drawings  in  its  favor,  the  meadow  or 
fringe  of  land,  which  may  indicate  the  Hudson  river,  would,  perhaps, 
have  to  disappear  as  an  invention  of  the  engraver  and  without 
authority.  Fortunately,  at  this  juncture,  and  since  our  appoint- 
ment as  commissioners,  there  have  been  exhibited  to  us  numerous 
specimens  ot  the  great  seal  of  the  State  impressed  upon  wax,  and  at- 
tached to  deeds  and  other  papers  from  the  years  177S  to  1798,  which 
have  impressed  upon  them  this  fringe  of  meadow-land  at  the  base 
of  the  shield.  This  conclusively  shows  that  the  great  seal,  which 
was  the  original  and  prototype  of  the  shield  of  the  arms,  was  closely 
imitated  by  the  engraver  of  the  military  commission.  The  seal  had 
been  made  under  the  authority  of  a  resolution  of  the  Provincial  Con- 
gress of  September  10,  1777,  and  we  have  in  it  a  second  and  most 
authoritative  witness  to  the  existence  of  land  at  the  base  of  the 
shield.  Engravers,  who  have  assumed  in  past  years  to  make  fac- 
similes of  the  seal  of  1778,  have  overlooked  this  significant  trait  of 
the  seal  which  they  were  copying.  The  seal,  though  it  did  not  in- 
clude the  arms  complete,  yet  gave  the  sun,  the  mountains,  the  river 
and  its  banks.  This  double  testimony  makes  the  evidence  so  strong 
that  it  cannot  be  mistrusted,  and  renders  it  unavoidable  that  the 
river  bank  should  be  maintained  in  the  standard  New  York  arms. 

The  word  "America,"  painted  upon  the  demi-globe  of  the  chapel 
painting,  we  have  not  retained  ;  but  we  have  preserved  the  outlines 
of  the  west  coast  of  Europe  and  of  the  east  coast  of  the  New 
World,  which  are  upon  the  first  two  specimens. 

The  eagle  forms  a  part  of  the  crest  of  all  three  of  these  pictures; 
we  maintain  it  in  position  as  found  upon  the  two  earliest  specimens, 
standing  upon  the  globe  with  the  head  directed  to  the  dexter  of  the 
shield.  We  have  no  misgivings  in  maintaining  the  eagle  as  an 
essential  part  of  the  insignia  of  this  State;  we  have,  indeed,  a 
marked  satisfaction  in  so  doing,  because  that  New  York  was  the 
first  of  all  the  Stated  to  give  this  prominence,  by  statute,  to  what  is 
now  become  our  National  symbol,  and  she  has,  therefore,  rights  in 
it  of  which  she  may  well  be  proud.  Pennsylvania  did  not  adopt 
the  eagle  as  her  crest  before  the  year  17>iJ,  nor  then  by  any  known 
statute.    Maryland,  while  she  assumed  the  eagle  about  the  year 


No.  61.] 


13 


1840,  as  her  crest,  without  law,  and  retained  it  for  a  few  decades, 
definitely  abandoned  it  in  1873.  And  it  was  not  adopted  as  a  sym- 
bol by  the  United  States  before  the  year  1782. 

The  royal  crown  overturned,  resting-  upon  the  scroll  at  the  foot 
of  Liberty,  is  found  upon  all  three  of  these  earliest  representations 
of  the  arms.  The  sword  and  scepter,  under  the  overturned  crown, 
are  found  only  upon  one  of  the  paintings,  and  that  the  more  fanci- 
ful one  of  latest  date.  These  last  we  have  rejected  ;  but  we  have 
not  presumed  to  efface  the  crown  from  the  arms,  although  it  has 
disappeared,  without  any  apparent  authority,  from  all  subsequent 
engravings  of  them.  It  has  been  said,  as  a  reason  to  justify  allow- 
ing the  crown  to  disappear,  that  the  shield  alone  constitutes  the 
essential  arms  in  heraldry,  and  that  this  crown  is  mere  ornamenta- 
tion. If  the  rigid  enforcement  of  the  principles  of  heraldry  of 
families  to  the  symbols  of  our  States  were  defensible,  the  argument 
here  presented  covers  too  much  ground  and  would  justify  sweeping 
away  Liberty,  Justice  and  the  Eagle;  and  without  these  the  great 
emblem  of  New  York  would  be  shorn  of  much  of  its  character. 
At  all  events,  the  specific  sign,  by  which  the  revered  founders  of 
the  State,  assembled  in  convention  in  the  crisis  of  the  Revolution, 
impressed  upon  the  arms  their  determination  to  sustain  a  Repub- 
lican government,  should  always  be  cherished  by  us  their  successors. 

We  did  not  adopt,  as  a  strict  and  arbitrary  rule,  that  nothing 
should  retain  a  place  upon  the  arms  which  failed  to  have  the  testi- 
mony of  two  of  these  representations,  for  we  conceived  that  each 
picture  could  not  be  rated  as  of  equal  authority.  Practically  we  do 
not  propose  to  retain  any  thing  of  importance  unless  it  has  the  tes- 
timony of  two  witnesses,  except  the  sloop  and  the  ship  once  so 
frequently  seen  upon  the  Hudson  river.  Tlie  fact  that  they  are 
found  upon  the  earliest  specimen  is  a  strong  ai'gument  in  their  favor. 
The  engraver  put  them  there  because  they  were  found  upon  the 
device  as  it  was  laid  before  him,  and  his  art  enabled  him  to  repre- 
sent the  vessels  with  effect,  because  they  would  be  seen  near  at 
hand;  whereas  if  they  had  been  carved  to  be  impressed  upon  the 
wax  seal,  or  painted  upon  the  flag,  they  would  hardly  have  been 
perceptible  to  the  eye.  In  view  of  these  i-easons,  and  of  the  pecu- 
liar significance  of  the  two  ships,  as  symbolic  of  the  marvelous 
water  communication  westward  through  the  chasm  of  the  mountains, 
we  decided  that  we  ought  to  retain  them. 

Some  have  recommended  that  the  present  would  be  a  suitable  oc- 
casion to  introduce  some  modification  of  the  motto  of  the  arms,  the 
word  Excelsior"  ;  that  some  form  of  the  word  should  be  adopted 
more  c^^nsonant,  they  allege,  with  correct  Latinity.  We  are  of  the 
opinion  that  the  motto,  just  as  it  stands,  has  been  so  long  sanctioned 
in  the  history  of  the  State,  botli  in  prose  and  poetry,  in  the  minds 
of  all  men,  that  no  change  should  be  made  in  it.  It  impresses  upon 
the  mind  the  sentiment,  of  a  State  of  abundant  resources,  progressive 
enterprise  and  noble  aspirations. 

In  conformitv  to  the  resolutions  under  which  we  are  actiuir,  and 


14 


[Senate 


to  the  principles  ol'  the  exphmiitions  which  we  have  just  made,  we 
proceed  to  <?ive  a  description  of  the  arms  in  popuhir  lan(jjiiage,  free 
from  scientific  technicalities,  and  sufHciently  exact  for  the  arms  to 
be  constructed  from  it. 

Arms  of  the  State  ok  New  York. 

/Shield. — At  the  base  of  the  shield,  tliere  is  a  shore  of  land  like  a 
meadow  fringed  with  shrubbery ;  beyond,  there  is  an  expanse  of 
water  like  a  river,  smooth  and  calm.  Upon  the  water  a  ship  and 
sloop  are  seen  advancing  toward  each  other.  Beyond  the  water 
three  mountains  appear,  the  central  one  of  which  is  the  most  eleva- 
ted. Behind  and  above  the  mountains,  seven-eighths  of  the  hody  of 
the  sun  is  seen,  like  a  human  face,  with  a  great  effulgence  of  golden 
rays.    A  blue  sky  reaches  to  the  top  of  the  shield. 

Crest. — An  eagle,  with  its  head  and  the  front  of  its  body  turned 
to  the  right  of  the  shield,  stands  upon  a  two-thirds  of  a  globe,  with 
parallels  of  latitude  and  lines  of  longitude;  the  western  coast  of 
Europe  and  the  eastern  coast  of  the  New  AVorld  are  outlined  upon 
it.    The  globe  rests  upon  the  usual  wreath  of  blue  and  gold. 

Supporters. — The  ligure  of  Liberty  stands  upon  the  right  of  the 
shield  and  is  completely  dressed  in  a  robe  of  gold,  reaching  to  the 
ankles,  with  no  belt,  but  lapels  to  the  waist,  and  a  mantle  of  crim- 
son falling  from  the  shoulders  behind,  and  appearing  in  front  on  her 
right  as  low  down  as  the  bottom  of  the  robe.  The  feet  have  sandals 
upon  them,  laced  with  red  bands.  The  face  and  neck,  the  hands 
and  forearm  only  are  nude.  Close,  to  her  left  foot,  and  upon  the 
scroll  on  which  she  stands,  there  is  a  royal  crown  which  is  over- 
turned. 

In  her  right  hand,  which  hangs  by  her  side,  she  holds  upright 
a  staff,  one  end  of  which  rests  upon  the  scroll,  and  the  other  end 
extending  above  her  head,  supports  a  liberty-cap  of  neutral  tint 
upon  it,  and  her  left  hand  supports  the  shield  with  firmness  and 
vigilance. 

On  the  left  of  the  shield  stands  the  figure  of  justice,  with  a  robe 
and  mantle  similar  in  sliape  and  color  to  those  worn  by  Liberty.  The 
mantle  is  extended  behind  to  the  left  in  much  the  same  manner. 
In  her  left  hand  at  the  level  of  her  waist,  she  holds  an  even  balance, 
which  hangs  away  from  the  left  of  her  body.  In  her  right  hand  she 
holds  a  naked  sword,  with  the  point  upward,  but  her  arm  down,  the 
elbow  only  touching  the  shield.  Her  eyes  are  blindfolded  with  a 
white  band  of  cloth,  but  she  seems  intently  listening  to  reach  the 
truth.  The  face,  neck,  hands  and  forearni  only  are  exposed.  Her 
feet  have  sandals,  laced  with  red  bands. 

Motto. — The  word  ''Excelsior"  painted  upon  a  white  scroll  beneath 
the  shield,  r.})on  the  extended  ends  of  which  stand  the  supporters 
Liberty  and  Justice. 

The  preceding  description,  which  we  accompany  with  a  painted 
representation  of  the  arms,  which  has  been  made  in  general  in 


No.  61.] 


15 


accordance  with  it,  embodies  the  conchisions  which  we  have  reached 
as  to  what  may  be  dechired  to  be,  with  a  fair  measure  of  exactness, 
the  true  arms  of  the  State  of  New  York,  as  originally  adopted  in 
lY78,so  far  as  can  be  determined  from  these  three  early  pictures, 
and  from  the  first  great  seal  of  the  State  of  1777. 

It  is  proper  to  add  in  this  place,  that  we  do  not  see  any  ground 
for  supposing  that  the  arms  were  changed  or  modified  by  any  of  the 
laws  respecting  the  seals,  which  were  enacted  in  the  years  we  have 
before  referred  to.  The  only  chance  for  raising  the  question  is  in 
connection  with  the  law  of  1798.  That  law  provided  for  a  com 
mission  of  three  public  ofificers  to  repair  or  cause  to  be  made  a  new 
great  seal,  after  such  device  as  the  commission  shall  judge  proper, 
but  it  makes  no  allusion  to  the  arms  of  the  State.  It  simply  requires 
that  a  written  description  of  the  seal  shall  be  preserved  in  the  Secretary 
of  State's  oflice.  This  commission,  however,  in  making  a  new  seal, 
records  the  description  of  it  in  1799  in  these  words:  "The  arms 
of  the  State  complete,  with  supporters,  crest,  and  motto  around  the 
same:  '  The  great  seal  of  the  State  of  New  York.'*  They  then 
describe  the  reverse.  They  do  not  pretend  to  have  devised  a  new 
arms,  and  while  they  did  not  closely  follow  the  old  law,  they  do 
not  appear  by  the  terms  of  the  law  to  have  had  any  authority  to  in- 
troduce the  changes  which  were  made  by  the  artist.  There  was  no 
more  authority  for  making  those  changes  than  there  would  be  for 
making  changes  in  the  new  great  seal  ordered  to  be  made  by  the 
Secretary  of  State  under  the  law  of  1880. 

We  are  now  brought  to  the  consideration  of  the  second  question 
connected  with  the  duty  assigned  to  the  commissioners  in  the  reso- 
lutions, which  is,  "  to  report  such  measures  as  shall  tend  to  perpetu- 
ate a  knowledge  of  the  correct  arms,  and  as  to  the  propriety  of  ex- 
tending the  use  of  them  in  the  public  ofiices  and  in  the  community 
without  alteration  ;  and  as  to  the  expediency  of  placing  the  arms 
u23on  the  great  seal  of  the  State  and  upon  the  seals  of  the  depart- 
ments, and  of  all  such  public  ofiices  as  issue  papers  with  the  author- 
itv  of  an  official  seal  as  the  appropriate  symbol  of  the  authoritv  of 
tlie  State." 

The  commissioners  see  nothing  to  prevent  the  State  from  re- 
lapsing into  the  same  neglect  of  her  own  insignia  in  the  future  as  in 
the  past,  unless  an  authentic  standard  arms  having  been  carefully 
set  forth,  they  are  protected  from  change  and  alteration  by  law. 
Certainly  as  it  is  one  of  the  most  important  uses  of  the  arms  adopted 
by  each  State,  that  they  should  be  engraved  upon  the  seals  of  the 
State,  it  is  equally  important  that  they  should  be  engraved  correctly 
upon  the  seals,  and  that  they  should  be  accurately  maintained  in  the 
succession  of  years,  and  that  no  changes  should  be  introduced  on  the 
authority  of  a  single  public  officer,  or  of  any  person  other  than  those 
who  may  have  been  authorized  by  law  to  effect  such  a  change. 

We  will  not  enter  into  minute  details  of  the  alterations  which  have 
from  time  to  time  been  made  ;  we  will  simply  mention  some  of  the 
more  noticeable  changes.    In  more  than  a  dozen  pictures  of  the 


1() 


I  SlCNATK 


anus  of  the  State  wliicli  we  have  liad  before  us,  nut  (.'oim tin anion 
them  any  others  than  those  which  have  been  in  use  with  some 
measure  of  State  authoi-itv,  nor  tliose  which  have  only  slight  altera- 
tions, but  only  those  alterations  aH'cctiui^  fundamental  featur(3S  of 
the  arms,  we  find  that  there  have  been  in  use  representations  of  them 
where  the  shield  contained  the  stripes  of  the  Union  instead  of  the 
njountains  and  river;  where  Justice  and  Liberty  have  given  ])lace 
to  Science  and  Art  as  suj^porters  ;  where  the  supporters  have  been 
tlie  one  seated  and  the  other  standing,  or  where  both  have  been 
seated,  or  both  have  been  discarded  ;  where  Justice  has  been 
robbed  of  the  band  over  the  eyes  and  of  the  balance.  The  eagle 
has  been  discharged  from  service  on  another,  and  some  dis])ensed 
with  the  motto  "Excelsior,"  and  the  royal  crown  has  been 
removed  from  the  foot  of  Liberty  in  all.  These  statements  are  cor- 
rect, both  as  regards  tlie  arms  when  used  for  mere  ornamentation 
and  in  publications  issued  under  the  authority  of  the  State,  and  as 
regards  the  seals  and  emblems  used  in  the  public  offices. 

While  spealling  of  these  cases  of  departure  irom  the  correct  arms, 
we  deem  it  necessary  to  add,  that  having  been  informed  from  Wash- 
ington that  the  representation  of  the  arms  upon  the  block  of  black 
marble,  which  had  been  contributed  by  the  State  in  1851  to  the  Na- 
tional Washington  Monument,  to  be  placed  in  it  witli  similar  blocks 
from  other  States,  did  not  contain  a  correct  picture  of  the  arms,  ac- 
cording to  either  one  of  these  three  earliest  specimens,  we  obtained 
copies  of  the  sculpture  upon  that  stone.  Finding  the  divergence  to 
be  great,  we  addressed  the  president  of  the  association,  who  is  the 
President  of  the  United  States,  requesting  delay  in  yJacing  the  stone 
in  the  monument,  upon  which  work  has  recently  been  recommenced, 
until  the  wish  of  the  State  upon  the  subject  should  be  expressed 
With  this  desire  compliance  was  promptly  promised  in  a  wn-itten 
communication. 

In  our  remarks  upon  these  alterations  we  have  neglected  to  notice 
small  variations,  although  they  may  not  be  regarded  as  of  minor 
importance  by  many  persons.  It  is  also  but  just  to  observe  that  the 
departures  from  the  legal  arms  appear  to  have  reached  their  extreme 
about  the  year  1850,  since  which  time  there  have  repeatedly  been 
steps  taken  in  the  direction  of  reform,  and  as  many  retrograde  move- 
ments to  the  old  neglect.  The  military  department  of  the  State  has 
continued  foremost  in  these  efforts  at  conformity  with  the  true  arms, 
as  regards  the  regimental  flag. 

We  have  hitherto  been  speaking  of  altered  arms,  wdiere  those 
using  them  were  unconscious  that  they  were  doing  so,  or  where  the 
use  of  some  portion  of  the  arms  only  was  supposed  to  be  sufficient. 
But  a  custom  has  grown  up,  which  has  the  sanction  of  law  in  many 
cases,  that  some  of  the  State  departments  and  other  offices  do  not  use 
the  State  arms  at  all.  Instead  thereof  in  many  of  these  offices  at  the 
Capitol  and  elsewhere,  the  devices  which  are  engraved  on  their  seals, 
letter-heads  and  envelopes  retain  either  no  part  of  tlie  arms  of  the 
State,,  or  only  the  motto  "Excelsior,"  and  some  of  them  do  not  retain 


No.  61.] 


17 


even  that.  The  device  on  the  seal  of  each  department  differs  from 
that  of  almost  every  other  one.  The  State  of  New  York  has  herein 
countenanced  a  usage  which  has  not  its  parallel  to  the  same  ex- 
tent in  any  of  the  States  of  the  Union,  and  has  allowed  herself  to  be 
misrepresented  in  her  State  symbol,  more  than  any  of  the  States  of 
the  Union  have  done  as  i-egards  their  own.  These  devices,  when 
attached  to  documents  issued  by  these  departments,  do  not  suggest 
to  any  one  familiar  with  the  arms  of  the  State,  either  with  the  cor- 
rect arms  or  altered  ones,  that  the  document  is  issued  by  the  author- 
ity of  the  State  of  New  York,  by  any  other  token  than  the  legend 
surrounding  the  same,  containing  the  name  of  the  office  or  depart- 
ment. In  contrast  with  our  usage,  at  least  sixteen  of  the  States  and 
probably  many  more  have  arms  and  seals  whereof  the  devices  for 
each  are  identical,  except  that  each  seal  bears,  in  addition  to  the 
arms,  the  name  of  the  department  employing  the  seal. 

The  commissioners  have  received  letters  from  the  Secretaries  of 
State  of  Connecticut,  Maine,  Maryland,  Massachusetts,  Michigan, 
New  Hampshire,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Rhode  Island  and 
Vermont,  in  answer  to  communications  addressed  to  them  regarding 
their  own  usages  in  this  respect.  The  responses  in  many  cases 
l)rought  full  sets  of  all  the  devices  in  use  as  arms  or  seals,  or  on 
letter- heads,  making  quite  a  voluminous  collection.  So  far  as  we 
have  observed,  these  engraved  State  insignia  are  composed  invari- 
ably of  a  center  containing  the  State  arms,  accompanied  with  words 
containing  the  name  of  the  State,  and  of  the  particular  department 
using  them,  either  over,  undei*  or  around  the  picture. 

From  the  first  origin  of  the  successsive  States  of  the  Union,  a 
most  prominent  motive  for  establishing  the  arms  or  symbol  of  each 
State  has  been  to  be  in  possession  of  a  device  for  the  seals  of  the 
State.  Indeed,  the  State  law  which  requires  that  a  State  seal  shall 
be  made  frequently  makes  no  mention  of  the  arms  of  the  State,  nor 
will  the  arms  be  mentioned  in  any  other  law.  But  the  consequence 
is  that  by  common  consent  the  device  on  the  seal  becomes  the  State 
arms.  The  laws  of  some  of  the  States  which  have  been  enacted  of 
late  years,  especially  those  which  have  suffered  by  painful  experi- 
ences from  the  abuses  which  have  flowed  from  the  absence  of  clear 
laws  regarding  the  arms,  specifically  require  that  the  arms  of  the 
State  shall  be  the  device  to  be  engraved  upon  all  the  seals  of  the 
State. 

For  the  first  example,  we  cite  the  State  of  Arkansas,  which 
enacted,  as  late  as  1864,  a  law^  {prompted  by  similar  disagreeable  ex- 
periences, as  follows :  "  All  official  seals  used  in  this  State  shall 
present  the  impressions,  emblems  and  devices  presented  by  the  great 
seal  of  the  State,  except  the  surrounding  words,  which  shall  be  such 
as  to  indicate  the  office  to  which  they  may  severally  belong." 

For  a  second  example,  we  adduce  a  law^  of  Ohio,  adopted  in  1868, 
and  enacted  from  the  same  motives.  In  the  first  section,  it  describes 
in  detail  wliat  is  the  device  of  the  State  arms.  In  the  second  sec- 
tion, it  is  provided  that  the  great  seal  shall  have  the  same  device 


18 


[Senatf<: 


which  li;i8  hcoii  dcscrihed  in  the  preceding  section.  The  same  sec- 
tion then  proceeds  to  mention  by  name  all  the  courts  of  the  State 
and  all  the  departments,  with  the  legend  to  be  engraved  ni)on  the 
seal  of  each  one,  and  closes  in'these  words:  "  All  the  seals. . .  .shall 
contain  the  words  and  devices  mentioned  in  this  act  and  no  other." 

We  see  from  these  extracts  from  the  laws  of  sister  States,  that 
New  York  is  not  the  only  State  suffering  from  abusive  practices  in 
alterations  of  the  State  arms,  although  she  may  be  among  the  last 
in  a])plying  a  remedy.  Connecticut,  Penns}dvania,  lihode  Island 
and  Vermont  have  also  been  obliged  in  late  years  to  legislate  for  (he 
purpose  of  re-establishing  their  legitimate  State  arms,  and  maintain- 
ing them  intact  by  appropriate  laws.  Maryland  is  engaged  in  the 
matter  in  her  Legislature  this  very  year. 

After  this  statement  of  the  trying  experiences  of  other  States, 
and  having  in  view  the  facts  which  we  have  mentioned  regarding 
alterations  of  the  New  York  State  arms,  we  think  that  together 
they  sufficiently  demonstrate  the  necessity  of  some  action  by  the 
State  to  remedy  these  irregularities  and  inconsistencies,  and  to  ren- 
der such  departures  from,  and  disi-egard  of  the  genuine  arms  of  the 
State  impossible ;  and  also,  that  our  laws  should  require  a  similar, 
uniformity  in  their  use  on  the  seals  of  the  public  offices  at  the 
Capitol,  of  the  courts  and  elsewhere,  We  w^ill  only  add  in  justifi- 
cation of  the  recommendations  which  we  make,  that  it  is  not  an 
exhibition  of  suitable  respect  to  the  State,  that  each  of  its  depart- 
ments should  symbolize  or  represent  itself  by  a  distinct  and  differ- 
ent device,  and  ignore  and  omit  to  employ  the  very  device  by  which 
the  State  has  chosen  to  set  forth  its  sovereignty.  The  dignity  of 
each  department  and  board,  and  of  the  courts  is  derived  from  the 
State,  and  no  one  of  them  can  devise  any  emblem  for  use,  wdiicli 
can  surpass  in  value  and  significance  that  of  the  State  which  they 
represent. 

For  the  accomplishment  of  the  ends  proposed  by  the  resolutions 
appointing  us  connnissioners,  wdiicli  are  the  adoption  of  the  neces- 
sary measures  for  reaffirming  the  origir.al  arms  of  the  State,  and 
causing  as  thorough  a  reversal  of  past  perversions  of  them  as  possible, 
we  w^ould  recommend  the  passage  of  a  law,  which  after  reciting  in 
its  preamble  such  portion  of  the  necessary  reasons  for  its  enactment 
as  should  be  deemed  essential,  should  contain  as  follows : 

First.  A  section  which  should  contain  the  full  blazon  or  descrip- 
tion of  the  arms  of  the  State  in  heraldic  language. 

Secmid.  A  section  providing  for  the  engraving  of  a  steel  plate 
of  six  inches  square  conformed  to  this  blazon,  to  be  carefully  pre- 
served in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State,  and  to  serve  as  a 
model  for  all  future  engravings,  and  to  be  accompanied  with  an.  en- 
graved attestation  of  the  Secretary  of  State  at  the  bottom  of  the 
plate,  that  it  is  the  standard  presentation  of  the  State  arms.  Official 
copies  from  this  engraving  sliould  be  addressed  by  the  Secretary  of 
State  to  all  public  offices  and  institutions  in  the  State. 

Third.  A  section  requiring  that  in  all  offices  under  the  control 


No.  61.] 


19 


and  authority  of  the  State,  in  the  courts  of  justice,  in  the  offices  ot" 
the  county  clerks  and  the  like,  the  arms  of  the  State  should  be  sus- 
pended in  a  conspicuous  place  in  a  frame,  being  copies  of  this  en- 
graving or  paintings  conformed  to  it.  A  moderate-sized  painting 
of  the  arms  on  panel  wood  shall  be  provided  for  the  walls  of  the 
executive  chain ber. 

Fourth.  A  section  requii'ing  that  the  great  seal  of  the  State,  the 
seals  of  the  various  departments  and  the  seals  of  the  courts  shall 
be  conformed  to  the  device  of  arms  described  in  the  first  section. 
The  great  seal  shall  be  inches  in  diameter,  and  the  other  seals 
shall  be  inches  in  diameter.  Each  seal  shall  have  around  the 
edge  the  name  of  the  department,  court,  board  or  office,  and  of  the 
State  of  New  York  upon  it.  Regimental  flags  shall  conform  to  the 
same  device.  Notarial  seals  need  not  contain  more  than  the  crest 
and  motto  with  the  name  and  place  of  the  office.  No  pictorial 
representation  shall  be  used  on  letter-heads  and  envelopes  in  the 
public  offices  other  than  the  State  arms. 

Fifth.  Persons  acting  under  the  authority  of  the  State  in  print- 
ing and  circulating  public  documents  shall  be  prohibited  from  usin<* 
any  vignettes  or  prints  of  the  arms  upon  them  other  than  the  stand- 
ard arms,  and  shall  not  be  allowed  to  combine  with  the  arms  fanci- 
ful additions  of  cannon,  horns  of  plenty  or  other  devices,  on  penalty 
of  a  fine. 

Sixth.  During  the  sessions  of  the  Legislature,  the  State  flag  with 
the  arms  of  the  State  of  New  York  shall  be  hoisted  upon  the  Capitol, 
together  with  the  flag  of  the  United  States. 

The  commissioners  are  of  the  opinion  that  it  will  be  necessary  to 
request  the  engineer  in  charge  of  the  Washington  National  Monu- 
ment to  efface  the  carving  from  the  lilock  of  marble  sent  by  the 
State  to  be  placed  in  it,  as  not  conformed  to  the  arms  of  the  State. 
As  there  are  already  blocks  of  marble  at  the  monument  from  thirty- 
one  of  the  United  States,  it  will  probably  be  deemed  necessary  ulti- 
mately to  replace  this  stone  with  a  fresh  one,  by  an  appropriation 
of  money  for  the  purpose. 

It  will  also  be  necessary  when  the  true  arms  have  been  reaffirmed 
by  law,  to  replace  those  which  are  sculptured  over  the  chimney 
fronts  of  the  Assembly  chamber  of  the  new  Capitol  with  correct  rep- 
resentations; they  were  included  in  the  erroneous  pictures  of  the 
arms  to  which  we  have  before  referred.  It  is  well  to  advert  to  the 
fact  that  the  shield  of  the  State  arms  as  carved  upon  the  desk  of  the 
President  in  the  new  Senate  chamber  is  nearly  conformed  to  the 
original  device,  including  the  river-bank. 

The  commissioners  do  not  recommend  that  there  should  be  any 
action  at  this  session  of  the  Legislature  upon  the  proposed  law.  They 
believe  that  by  the  circuUition  of  the  present  report  in  print  during 
the  coming  year,  and  through  an  extensive  knowledge  of  the  meas- 
ures suggested,  there  may  be  obtained  an  expression  of  opinion  from 
those  who  have  an  intelligent  interest  in  the  subject.  Additional 
information  may  also  be  obtained;  as  already  since  our  appointment 
several  flicts  of  importance  have  been  brought  to  light,  that  have 


20  [Sknatk,  No.  <;1.J 

aided  us  in  foniiini»;  our  cuiicliisioiis.  In  restoring  at  the  beginning 
of  a  new  century  of  our  national  existence,  the  first  and  only  arms 
of  the  State,  we  think  it  very  desirable  to  be  o])en  and  deliberate, 
so  that  we  may  not  fail  of  securing  the  result  aimed  at,  as  has  been 
the  case  in  past  legislation  on  the  subject. 

Our  purpose  in  suggesting  this  delay  is,  further,  to  insure  with 
greater  certainty  the  bestowal  of  all  honor  and  affection  upon  our 
syndjol  of  the  State  sovereignty.  We  have  pursued  the  investiga- 
tion of  the  topics  assigned  to  us  with  growing  convictions  of  tlie  im- 
portance and  suitablenessof  ]:)erpetuating  with  correctness  and  without 
variation  that  device  by  which  the  State  in  her  authority  and  honor 
is  to  be  recognized,  by  her  own  people,  by  the  people  of  the  United 
States,  and  by  the  world.  Every  reasonable  effort  shoidd  be  made 
that  the  citizens  of  the  State  who  are  proud  of  her  position  and  his- 
tory should  also  delight  in  her  insignia. 

The  device  of  arms  of  this  State  is  so  perfect  in  its  conception 
that  our  aim  is  mainly  how  we  can  best  restore  the  original.  We 
ought  not  to  favor  attempts  to  alter  it  for  the  better.  It  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  geographical  and  commercial  relations  of  the  State, 
and  symbolizes  ideas  which  are  in  accordance  with  the  loftiest  patri- 
otism. By  the  extensive  exhibition  of  this  beautiful  emblem,  not 
only  upon  our  seals  and  military  standards,  but  on  olir public  build- 
ings and  on  banners  at  our  festivals,  w^e  display  a  most  inspiring 
representation  of  the  authority  of  the  five  millions  of  people  of  the 
State,  operating  through  the  law  at  the  hands  of  its  administrators. 

The  commissioners  desire  to  add,  that  in  their  consideration  of 
the  topics  submitted  to  them  in  these  resolutions  and  in  the  prepa- 
ration of  this  report,  they  have  availed  themselves  of  the  researches 
and  of  the  aid  freely  rendered  by  Mr.  H.  A.  Homes^  of  the  State 
Library,  who  has  devoted  much  time  to  ascertain  the  historical  facts, 
and  to  the  study  of  the  questions  necessarily  involved  in  establish- 
ing therefrom  what  are  tlie  genuine  arms  of  the  State  of  New  York. 

ALONZO  E.  CORNELL, 
JOSEPH  B.  CARR, 
J.  W.  WADSWORTH. 


^  p  p  E  ^i^^  r>  I X . 


Note.  —  The  drawing  of  the  Arms  on  Plate  IV  is  unsatisfactory  in  its  outlines 
and  expression,  but  conforms  to  the  description  of  them  as  given  by  tlie  Commis- 
sioners. In  the  absence  of  a  more  artistic  representation  of  them,  it  has  been 
necessary  to  print  it.  It  is  not  a  drawing  of  what  has  been  definitely  adopted, 
but  a  sketch  of  the  essentials,  which  is  offered  for  the  purpose  of  receiving  sug- 
gestions and  criticisms  previous  to  the  enactment  of  a  new  law  regarding  the 
Arms. 


LETTEK  OF  H.  A.  HOMES,  ADDRESSED  TO  THE 
COMMISSIO^^EKS. 


His  Excellency,  A.  B.  Coenell, 

Chairman  of  the  Commissioners  on  the  correct  Arms  of  the  State  : 

Sir  —  The  resolutions  under  which  the  commissioners  will  make 
their  report  to  the  legislature,  by  their  form  limit  the  scope  of  the 
report.  There  are,  however,  some  facts  of  history  which  throw  fur- 
ther light  upon  the  significance  and  meaning  of  the  State  arms, 
which,  if  they  think  proper,  may  well  accompany  their  report  in  an  ap- 
pendix, so  that  they  may  be  found  in  connection  with  it,  for  the 
more  perfect  elucidation  of  the  subject. 

Before  adducing  these  facts,  there  is  one  observation  of  a  general 
nature  wliich  I  would  be  glad  to  make  re^rarding  the  New  York 
arms.    It  is  worthy  of  notice  that  New  Yoi'k  is  one  of  the  very  few 
of  the  States  whose  constitution  or  laws  makes  any  use  of  the  word 
arms,"  as  referring  to  any  State  symbol. 

I  regard  this  fact  as  worthy  of  being  made  prominent  if  for  no 
other  reason  than  as  affording  an  evidence  of  the  superior  culture  of 
the  leading  minds  in  the  convention.  In  the  history  of  the  success- 
ive States  of  the  Union,  the  urgent  motive  for  establishing  arms  for 
each  State  has  chiefly  been  to  be  in  possession  of  a  device  for  ihe 
seals  of  the  State.  Indeed  the  State  laws,  as  if  mindless  and  re- 
gardless of  arms,  frequently  merely  require  that  there  shall  be  a  de- 
vice for  a  seal ;  and  this  seal  subsequently  becomes,  in  the  usage  of 
all,  the  arms  of  the  State ;  the  laws  nowhere  making  any  mention  of 
its  having  any  arms.  On  the  first  organization  of  a  State  or  Terri- 
tory, the  officers  of  its  departments  and  courts  solicit  of  the  legisla- 
ture the  means  of  legalizing  their  acts  by  a  seal ;  and  it  immediately 
authorizes  its  chief  officer  or  officers  to  devise  such  a  seal.  Availing 
themselves  of  such  resources  of  wit,  fancy  and  education  as  are  at 
hand,  a  device  is  precipitated  upon  a  State  by  the  officers  of  that 
year,  as  a  seal ;  and  it  is  this  seal  which,  perhaps  without  the  ap- 
proval of  the  best  minds  in  the  State,  stands  through  the  successive 
years  not  only  as  the  seal,  but  also  as  the  State  arms,  and  is  used 
upon  the  State  fiag,  and  upon  medals.  In  the  popular  apprehension 
it  is  less  known  as  being  the  State  seal  than  as  being  the  State  arms. 

The  language  of  the  original  motion  in  the  New  York  conven- 
tion on  this  subject,  in  1777,  confirms  the  general  truth  of  what  I 
have  stated.    The  motion  made  was  solely  to  appoint  a  committee 


24 


[Senate 


to  devise  a  great  seal.  The  action  some  months  later,  in  September, 
appointing  a  second  committee,  specified  nothing  further  than  a 
seal.  But  when,  in  March,  1778,  the  law  for  the  seal  came  to  he 
enacted,  its  language  was:  "and  whereas  arms  complete  have  been 
provided,  and  seals."  Although  there  had  been  no  requisition  for 
arms  from  the  committee,  there  were  evidently  some  persons  near 
tlie  govennnent  who  recognized  the  genuine  necessities  of  the  case 
for  the  rising  State,  and  were  influential  enough  to  secure  for  the 
distinctive  word  "arms"  a  place  in  the  law. 

I  now  come  to  the  more  especial  object  of  this  letter.  It  is  con- 
ceded that  the  mountains,  meadow  and  water,  with  the  ships,  on 
the  shield  of  the  arras,  typify  the  Hudson  river.  But  what  prob- 
able motive  can  be  assigned  for  introducing  a  full  sun  into  the 
arms?  The  facts  of  history  which  I  bring  forward  to  explain  this 
motive,  altliougli  they  may  be  said  to  be  well  known,  yet,  so  far  as 
1  know,  they  have  never  heretofore  been  made  use  of  to  give  signifi- 
cance to  the  New  York  arms.  Yet  I  think  that,  from  the  time  that 
the  sun  in  the  shield  shall  be  regarded  in  the  light  of  these  new 
relations,  it  will  not  be  possible  to  contemplate  it  in  any  other  light, 
for  they  will  be  so  consonant  with  historical  facts,  that  the  emblem 
\vill  acquire  an  unwonted  force  and  expression  in  our  minds. 

I  think  then,  that  there  is  abundant  evidence  that  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  full  sun  was  first  suggested  to  the  committee  from  well- 
known  facts  in  English  history — from  events  commencing  in  the 
life  of  Edward  IV.  The  sun  had  first  been  adopted  as  a  badge  or 
cognizance  of  Edward,  Duke  of  York,  who  afterwards  became 
Edward  lY.  It  was  regarded  as  an  omen  of  prosperity  and  suc- 
cess. 

The  story  of  the  occasion  which  led  to  its  adoption  is  related  in 
six  or  seven  of  the  early  chronicles  of  England.  Some  of  them 
have  only  been  printed  from  ancient  manuscripts  by  the  Camden 
Society  within  a  very  few  years.  The  fullest  accounts  of  the  mat- 
ter are  to  be  found  in  Hall's  and  Holinshed's  Chronicles.  The 
event  took  place  toward  the  close  of  the  wars  between  the  White 
and  Red  Roses  —  between  the  houses  of  York  and  Lancaster — and 
resulted  in  establishing  the  dynasty  in  the  line  of  the  family  of 
York.  A  very  successful  and  decisive  battle  was  fought  by  Edward 
in  the  edge  of  Wales,  February  2,  1461,  called  the  "Battle  of  Mor- 
timer's Cross,"  I  will  only  quote  Holinshed's  account  of  the  battle 
and  of  the  prodigy  which  accompanied  it. 

"  But  when  he  was  setting  forward,  newes  was  brought  to  him, 
that  Jasper,  Earl  of  Pembroke,  half  brother  to  King  Ilenrie,  and 
James  Butler,  Earl  of  Ormund  and  Wiltshire  had  assembled  a  great 
number  of  Welsh  and  Irish  people  to  take  him  ;  he  herewith  quick- 
ened, retired  back,  and  met  with  his  enemies  on  a  fair  plaine  near 
to  Mortimer's  cross,  not  far  from  Hereford  east,  on  Candlemas  dale 
in  the  morning.  At  which  time  thesunne  (as  some  write)  appeared 
to  the  earl  of  March  like  three  suns,  and  suddenlie  joined  alto- 
gether in  one.    Upon  whicli  sight  he  took  such  courage,  that  he. 


No.  61.] 


25 


fiercelie  setting  on  liis  enemies,  put  them  to  flight ;  and  for  this 
cause  men  imagined,  that  he  gave  the  sun  in  his  fulle  brightnesse 
for  his  badge  or  cognizance."    I,  660. 

Wm.  riabingtou  published  tlie  life  of  Edward  TY,  in  1610,  180 
years  after  the  battle  of  1461,  at  the  express  desire  of  Charles  I, 
who  had  been  Duke  of  York.  Only  two  Dukes  of  York  had  in- 
tervened between  his  possession  of  the  title,  and  Edward  lY,  140 
years  pi'eviously.  Pie  discusses  this  phenomenon  of  the  sun  in  the 
following  language  :  "  Before  the  fight,  the  sun  (as  by  many  au- 
thors it  is  asserted)  appeared  to  the  earl  in  the  resemblance  of  three 
suns  and  suddenly  united  in  one.  The  truth  of  which  I  will  not 
dispute  .  . .  Yet  how  this  omen  could  be  expounded  happy  to  his 
designs  I  understand  not,  unless  we  seek  the  interpretation 
from  the  event;  for  that  indeed  gave  him  the  victory  and  brought 
the  glory  of  the  two  adverse  generals  (Pembroke  and  Ormonde)  to 
his  side  ;  so  that  the  three  suns  which  with  equal  brightness  ap- 
peared in  the  morning  before  evening  shined  alone  in  him.  For 
the  two  earls  and  their  whole  army  were  put  to  flight  with  the 
slaughter  of  3800  men  on  the  place."  (Kennett's  England,  L.,  1706.) 

It  was  this  phenomenon,  which  was  probably  a  genuine  mirage, 
and  which  was  so  well  accredited  in  the  minds  of  the  people  of  the 
day,  which  led  Edward  I Y  to  adopt  a  sun  in  splendor  as  his  badge. 

It  was  placed  upon  the  housings  of  the  saddles,  and  upon  his 
banners.  The  gold  coin  of  his  reign  called  the  rose  noble  and 
the  rial  and  half  rial  had  tlie  sun  stamped  upon  them.  I  do  not 
find  that  the  snn  had  previously  to  this  been  stamped  upon  any  of 
the  coin  of  the  realm  of  England.  It  was  also  used  in  his  reign 
and  in  his  reign  only  as  a  mint  mark.  Writers  on  the  history  of  the 
coins  of  England,  Fleetwood,  Leake,  Kuding  and  Akerman  agree 
in  ascribing  this  origin  to  the  sun  upon  the  gold  noble.  If  the  sun 
was  not  uniformly  perpetuated  afterward  on  the  arms  of  the  kings 
or  on  the  coin  of  the  kingdom,  the  explanation  is  found  in  the 
language  used  by  Dallaway  in  his  Heraldry  :  "A  cognizance  is  but 
temporary  in  a  family ;  it  does  not  descend  like  the  arms,  and  so  it 
never  became  a  perpetual  badge  of  the  succeeding  members  of  the 
dynasty  of  England."  And  for  the  same  reason,  Guillim  does  not 
give  the  sun  in  his  picture  of  the  arms  of  the  Dukes  of  York. 

After  the  gold  coin  of  Edward  lY,  the  first  coin  upon  which  we 
find  the  sun  was  one  of  the  reign  of  Mary,  and  next  upon  the  gold 
coin  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  James  I  had  it  placed  upon  the  sover- 
eign. In  all  these  cases  it  was  upon  the  reverse  of  the  coin,  and 
the  suns  were  all  of  the  same  type.  The  sun  was  only  pictured 
upon  the  gold  coin  of  the  realm.  We  will  speak  later  of  the  use  of 
the  sun  by  James  II. 

It  was  of  this  sun  of  the  Duke  of  York  that  the  members  of  the 
committee  of  the  New  York  convention  on  the  arms  would  liave 
been  reminded  when  they  dwelt  upon  passages  relating  to  it  which 
Shakespeare  has  woven  into  two  of  his  historical  plays.  I  will  here 
quote  a  portion  of  the  scene  from  the  third  part  of  Henry  YI,  be. 

[Sen.  Doc.  No.  61.]  4 


26 


[Senate 


tweeii  Edward,  who  became  Kino:,  and  Kieliard  the  second  Diike  of 
York.  In  the  niarojin  we  read  :  A  ])lain  near  Mortimer's  Cross  in 
Herefordshire."    The  Duke  llichard  addresses  Edward  ; 

liichard  —  See  how  the  morniiiij:  o]>es  her  golden  gates, 

And  takes  her  farewell  of  the  glorious  sun  ; 

How  well  resembles  it  the  ])rime  of  youth, 

Trimmed  like  a  younker  prancing  to  his  love  ! 
Edward —  Daz/le  mine  eyes,  or  do  I  see  three  suns  V 
Ilirhard  —  Three  gh>rious  suns,  each  one  a  perfect  sun  ; 

Not  separated  with  the  racking  clouds 

But  severed  in  a  pale  clear  shining  sky. 

See  !  See  !  they  join,  embrace  and  seem  to  kiss, 

As  if  they  vowed  some  league  inviolable. 

Now  are  they  but  one  lamp,  one  light,  one  sun; 

In  this  the  heavens  i)refigure  some  event. 
Edward  —  'Tis  wondrous  strange,  the  like  yet  never  heard  of. 

I  think  it  cites  us  brothers  to  the  field 

That  we  the  sons  of  brave  Plantagenet, 

Each  one  already  blazing  by  our  meeds, 

Should  notwithstanding  join  our  lights  together, 

And  overshine  the  earth,  as  this  the  world  ! 

A  few  years  later  in  English  history,  Shakespeare  makes  Richard 
III,  then  Duke  of  Gloster,  break  out  in  triumphant  soliloquy  in  the 
first  words  of  the  play  with  that  title  : 

Gloster  —  Now  is  the  winter  of  our  discontent 

Made  glorious  summer  by  this  sun  of  York  ; 
And  all  the  clouds  that  lower'd  upon  our  house, 
In  the  deep  bosom  of  the  ocean  buried. 

I  will  quote  no  more  than  this  allusion  to  the  bad^ge  of  the  new 
King  Edward  IV  from  this  soliloquy. 

But  it  will  be  inquired  why,  readily  granting  that  our  New  York 
legislators  were  familiar  with  Shakespeare,  and  familiar  with  this 
Yorkist  legend,  wh}^  it  should  in  consequence  be  surmised  that 
they  meant  to  put  into  the  shield  of  our  arms  a  Y^orkist  sun  ? 

I  will  not  attempt  to  discuss  the  question  asked  at  length.  But  in 
the  first  place  I  must  say,  that  negatively  I  regard  the  adoption  of  a 
sun,  full  like  this  one,  as  the  adoption  of  so  uncommon  an  emblem, 
that  I  cannot  help  inferring  that  the  New  York  convention  had  some 
extraordinary  reason  for  adopting  it.  The  story  of  the  three  suns 
becoming  one,  unconnected  with  subsequent  history,  we  easily  and 
naturally  let  pass  as  an  idle  legend.  But  when  we  find  that  monu- 
ments were  established  in  memory  of  the  alleged  occurrence,  it  ac- 
quires a  new  importance,  and  has  taken  its  place  in  history.  Afiirm- 
atively,  I  think  that  this  historic  Yorkist  sun  may  be  claimed  to  be 
the  sun  in  the  arms  of  New  York,  for  a  first  reason  that  it  is  more 
like  a  Yorkist  sun  than  any  I  have  ever  seen.  On  the  coin  or  rose 
noble  of  Edward  lY  it  is  a  full  sun  ;  on  the  seal  of  the  State  of  New 
York  of  1777,  it  shows  more  than  eleven-twelfths  of  the  sun  —  all 
that  was  possible  to  introduce  compatible  with  introducing  the  other 
objects  in  the  shield.  A  sun  is  an  uncommon  emblem  in  any  arms 
as  compared  with  rhe  numerousness  of  other  emblems.  Among 
states  and  nations  of  previous  date,  I  only  find  it  used  by  Persia. 


No.  61.] 


27 


It  is  also  on  the  patriotic  banner  of  Ireland,  called  "  Fingal's"  and  is 
named  tlie  "snn-burst,"  having  been  upon  the  standard  of  her  liero 
Bryan  Boroihme,  when  he  won  tlie  decisive  victory  against  the  Danes, 
in  the  year  1014,  at  Clontarf . 

On  the  St.  Paul's  chapel  picture  of  the  Xew  York  arms,  we  find 
less  than  half  the  body  of  the  sun  is  represented,  but  that  is  the  latest 
and  least  valuable  witness  of  our  three  early  specimens  of  the  arms. 
It  is  on  the  wax  seal  of  New  York  of  1777  that  the  large  pro])ortion 
of  the  sun  exposed  show^s  most  conspicuously. 

My  second  reason  for  thinking  that  it  is  not  a  mere  coincidence 
that  the  sun  of  the  New  York  ai-ms  resembles  the  sun  of  the  York 
family  is  the  following:  James  II,  formerly  Duke  of  York,  when  he 
had  been  on  the  throne  for  two  years,  on  account  of  complaints 
from  Governor  Dongan,  in  1685,  of  irregularities  iu  the  use  of  seals 
in  the  province  of  New  York,  sent  over  the  sea,  by  special  connnand, 
on  August  14,  1687,  a  new  seal,  with  a  sun  upon  it,  which  was  to  be 
used  in  the  place  of  all  other  seals.  It  reached  New  York  Novem- 
ber 19,  while  Governor  Dongan  was  in  Albany.  It  is  thus  described 
by  the  king's  minister,  the  Earl  of  Sunderland,  in  the  document 
containing  the  warrant  for  its  use  in  the  province.  "  The  oV>verse 
has  on  the  one  side  the  effigies  of  the  king  on  horseback  in  arms, 
over  a  landskip  of  land  and  sea,  with  a  rising  sun."  It  will  be  asked 
if  this  was  a  Yorkist  snn  ?  Unfortunately  it  is  not  known  that  there 
is  a  copy  of  this  seal  in  existence.  The  secretar\^  calls  it  a  rising  sun, 
but  it  could  not  well  have  been  less  than  a  Yorkist  sun,  for  that  too 
was  a  rising  sun  according  to  the  legend,  though  all  above  the  horizon. 

James  the  Second  had  been  at  his  birth  declared  Duke  of  York, 
by  Charles  I,  and  ten  years  after  he  received  the  patent  of  Duke  of 
York  ;  he  had  read  Ilabington's  history  of  Edward  IV  ;  he  was 
learned  and  a  pedant;  he  had  been  declared  proprietor  of  New  York 
in  1664. 

He  gives  to  it  in  the  place  of  its  old  name  of  New  Netherland, 
the  name  of  its  new  proprietor.  Although  the  sun  had  ceased  to 
be  used  upon  the  coin  of  the  kingdom  for  many  years,  he  revives 
the  use  of  it  by  placing  it  upon  the  new  seal  of  his  province,  named 
after  him.  Can  any  other  supposition  be  fairly  made  than  that 
while  he  did  not  place  there  the  insignia  or  arms  of  his  own  family, 
yet  that  he  placed  there  as  emblematic  of  the  name  of  New^ 
York,  the  cognizance  of  the  family  of  Y^ork  ? 

The  mind  of  James  II  was  full  of  the  thought  of  perpetuating 
the  name  of  his  family  title  in  the  new  world,  and  in  his  proprie- 
tary province.  He,  being  Duke  of  York  and  Albany,  calls  the 
chief  city  as  w^ell  as  the  province  by  the  saitie  name  of  New  York 
instead  of  New  Amsterdam  or  New  Netherland.  Fort  Orange  be- 
comes x\lbany,  Long  Island  is  called  Yorkshire,  and  the  region  of 
the  Shawangunk  Mountains,  receives  the  name  of  Albania. 

It  is  very  likely  that  no  document  exists  anywhere  with  this  seal 
attached  to  it ;  the  seal  itself  was  broken  up  in  public  and  no  im- 
pression of  it  is  known  to  exist  anywhere.    But  it  is  very  easy  to 


28 


[Senate 


account  for  this  fact.  In  less  tlian  a  year  from  tlie  date  of  its  re- 
ception, in  Aug.,  1688,  (iov.  General  A ndros  defaced  this  ^'almost 
virgin  seal"  by  the  order  of  James  II,  and  its  ])lace  was  sup})lied  by 
the  seal  of  the  nar  ''New  England,"  (which  name  was  made  to 
cover  all  the  J'ritish  possessions  north  of  latitude  40°)  and  of  which 
he  had  been  made  governor-general.  With  the  English  revolution 
of  1688,  the  next  year,  all  chance  of  again  using  the  York  seal  of 
the  sun  as  an  emblem  of  New  York,  ceased  with  the  expulsion  of 
James  II,  and  the  commencement  of  the  reii^n  of  William  of  Oransfe, 
or  it  might  have  remained  m  use  on  coins  and  on  our  seal  until 
1776. 

An  impression  of  this  seal  of  New  England,  which  was  the  only 
seal  in  use  in  New  York,  from  August,  1688,  to  April,  1689,  it  may 
not  be  imappropriate  to  observe  here,  should  be  included  in  the  col- 
lection of  the  seals  of  the  State  in  the  New  York  Civil  List.  No 
copy  of  the  impression  was  known  to  exist  at  the  time  of  publish- 
ing the  Documentary  Plistory  of  the  State,  in  1850-51.  One  was 
presented  to  the  New  York  Historical  Society  in  1862,  being  at- 
tached to  the  patent  creating  Joseph  Dudley,  first  cliief  justice  of 
New  York.  {Adlard's  Sutton- Dudleys  of ' England,  Bost.,  1862.) 
It  should  be  brought  into  its  proper  relations  with  the  seals  of  the 
State,  as  one  of  the  series,  in  use  for  a  period  of  seven  months. 

The  seal  has  one  peculiar  additional  item  of  interest,  in  that  it  is 
the  first  of  that  series  of  seals  of  the  State  wdiich  continued  to  be  in 
use  through  a  period  of  eighty-eight  years,  from  the  year  1688  to 
the  year  1776,  having  on  one  side  an  Indian  kneeling  before  the 
figure  of  the  sovereign  of  the  day,  king  or  queen,  and  offering  gifts. 
This  first  seal  differs  from  all  the  remainder  of  the  series  in  having 
the  figure  of  an  English  man,  as  colonist,  teacher  or  missionary,  kneel 
ing  by  the  side  of  the  Indian.  If  the  figure  is  that  of  a  teacher,  it 
may  explain  the  selection  of  the  motto  from  Claudian  which  is  on 
the  seal. 

I  have  given  reasons  for  believing  that  the  members  of  the  com- 
mittee of  the  convention  must  have  been  well  acquainted  with  the 
Yorkist  badge  from  history  and  Shakespeare.  I  might  add  that 
the  notices  of  this  badge  of  the  sun  are  frequent  in  English  litera- 
ture. I  have  before  me  extracts  from  Drayton's  poems,  from  his 
Polyolbion  and  from  his  Miseries  of  Queen  Margaret,  repeating  the 
story  of  the  three  suns.  Drayton  was  a  contemporary  of  Shakes- 
peare. In  the  22d  song  of  the  Polyolbion  he  distinctly  affirms 
what  was  the  phenomenon  which  induced  Edward  IV  to  choose 
the  sun  for  his  badge.  I  will  r.ot  quote  more  than  that  portion  of 
the  song  which  contains  this  affirmation. 

"  When  this  most  warlike  duke,  in  honour  of  that  sign, 
Which  of  his  good  success  so  rightly  did  divine, 
And  thankful  to  high  heaven,  which  of  his  cause  had  care. 
Three  suns  for  his  device  still  in  his  ensign  bare.'"' 

Hume  refers  the  defeat  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick  by  Edward  IV 
to  an  accident  which  led  the  Lancastrians  to  mistake  the  star  of  the 


Ko.  61.] 


29 


Earl  of  Oxford  for  the  king's  badge  of  the  sun,  and  to  drive  a  por- 
tion of  their  own  forces  from  the  tield.  Biilwer-Lytton,  in  his 
novel  of  "  The  Last  of  the  Barons,"  referring  to  the  same  event, 
says:  "  The  housings  of  his  steed  were  spangled  with  silver  suns, 
for  the  silver  sun  was  the  cognizance  of  all  his  banners."  Hardy, 
in  his  new  novel  of  "  The  Laodiceans,"  now  publishing,  describing 
a  walk  in  the  church  of  Stancy  Castle,  and  the  tombs  of  the  knights 
upon  the  floor  of  the  ancient  church,  with  their  effigies  sculptured 
upon  them,  thus  writes:  "Some  of  them  wearing  around  their 
necks  the  Yorkist  collar  of  suns  and  roses,  the  livery  of  Edward 
the  Fourth."  But  I  need  not  give  other  extracts  from  English 
writers  to  illustrate  the  prominence  which  the  cognizance  of  the  sun 
has  had  in  the  history  of  the  family  of  York. 

I  desire  not  to  tax  your  attention  too  much;  but  I  beg  your  in- 
dulgence while  I  add  a  few  sentences  suggested  by  the  character  of 
the  supporters  of  the  arms  of  New  York.  In  a  paper  published 
by  me  in  1880,  I  have  written  somewhat  at  length  regarding  them 
and  the  men  who  devised  these  emblematic  figures,  and  1  do  not 
propose  to  repeat  any  thing  already  found  therein. 

The  only  additional  remark  which  I  have  to  make  upon  the  figure 
of  Liberty  is  that  the  color  of  the  liberty  cap,  upon  the  pole  in  her 
hand,  is  not  red  upon  any  one  of  the  three  early  specimens  of  the 
arms  which  the  honorable  commissioners  have  studied.  It  has  been 
designated  by  some  as  a  Phrygian  cap,  the  color  of  which  is  histori- 
cally represented  as  red.  Our  arms  v^ere  devised  long  before  the 
French  revolution  of  1793  ;  and  even  if  the  color  of  the  cap  had 
been  red,  there  was  nothing  in  the  principles  of  a  government  for 
the  people,  which  they  were  devising,  to  suggest  to  them  a  destruc- 
tive spirit,  or  any  symbol  of  a  like  spirit. 

Tiie  emblem  of  Justice  on  our  arms  does  not  represent  Themis 
or  Jurisprudence,  into  which  it  has  been  changed  in  the  letter- 
heads in  most  frequent  use  in  the  departments  at  Albany,  but  rep- 
resents, as  near  as  may  be,  the  Greek  goddess  Astraea.  It  was  from 
this  figure  of  the  goddess,  as  a  beautiful  virgin,  was  derived  also  the 
Justice  which  originally  formed  the  seal  of  the' Supreme  Court  of 
the  State  of  New  York  down  to  the  year  1846.  With  the  change 
resulting  from  the  new  organization  of  the  courts,  by  which  the 
seal  of  the  county  where  the  court  is  held  is  impressed  upon  such 
documents  as  require  a  seal,  that  seal  is  no  longer  in  use. 

A  learned  member  of  the  bar  has  kindly  suggested  to  me  that  it 
was  worthy  of  mention  that  the  symbol  of  justice,  as  here  presented, 
harmonizes  also  with  the  Bible  and  with  Shakespeare.  With  the 
Bible  as  in  Job,  "  Let  him  weigh  me  in  the  balance  of  justice"  ;  and 
with  Shakespeare,  who  speaks  of  "The  Sword  of  Justice,"  and  of 
learning  to  "  Poise  the  course  of  justice  in  equal  scales,  whose  beam 
stands  sure,  whose  righti'ul  cause  prevails." 

Henry  lY  is  made  to  address  the  Lord   Chief  Justice  thus 

"  Therefore,  still  bear  the  balance  and  the  sword.  .  .  . 
The  unstained  sword  that  you  have  use'd  to  bear." 

;  2HEN11Y1V,  5:2. 


30 


[Senate 


Wliy  slior.ld  such  symbols  of  the  god-like  principles  of  single- 
mindedness.  iinpartialitv  and  retribution  be  allowed  to  disappear 
from  the  liii^ure  of  Justice  and  from  our  arms? 

Now,  looking  over  a  collection  of  the  arms  of  the  original  thirteen 
States,  it  will  be  observed  that  no  one  of  them  adopted  for  their 
arms  as  supporters,  etnblems  so  suggestive  of  lofty  principle  and 
purpose  as  did  the  State  of  New  York,  and  indeed  the  arms  of  most 
of  them  have  no  supporters  at  all.  Although  Virginia  has  a  Liberty  it 
is  not  as  a  supporter,  but  as  an  avenger  of  tyranny  ;  New  Jersey  lias 
Ceres  with  Liberty  as  su])porters,  but  the  other  States  have  nothing 
of  the  one  kind  or  another,  suggestive  of  virtues  oi*  duties.  Whence 
arose  the  eminent  distinction  of  New  York  in  this  feature  of  her 
arms  ?  In  the  first  paper  I  spoke  of  the  three  men  on  the  committee. 
Jay,  Morris  and  Ilobart  as  judges  on  the  bench  ;  we  have  now  to 
add  to  their  number  a  fourth,  also  a  judge.  Chancellor  Livingston, 
and  a  fifth,  George  Clinton,  a  member  of  the  bar,  the  first  governor 
of  the  State  and  for  the  longest  period  of  any  one  of  them.  In  the 
absence  as  yet  of  detailed  written  records  of  the  history  of  the  origin 
of  our  arms,  it  is  but  reasonable  to  give  due  credit  to  those  four  dis- 
pensers of  justice,  as  having  been  led,  both  by  their  education,  pro- 
fessions and  chai'acter,  to  exhibit  the  virtue  of  Justice  as  one  of  the 
pillars  of  the  State  along  with  Liberty. 

It  should  serve  to  enhance  the  respect  with  which  the  arms  of 
the  State  should  ever  be  regarded,  to  dwell  upon  the  character  of 
these  men,  thus  eminent  in  position  in  the  State,  with  whose  names 
we  must  hereafter  always  unavoidably  associate  this  device.  Of 
Clinton  and  Livingston,  the  two  new  members  of  the  commission, 
I  do  not  need  to  say  a  word  more  than  that  theirs  are  the  two  statues 
of  her  citizens  which  were  selected  by  New  York  to  adorn  the 
national  Walhalla  at  Washington.  But  it  is  worth  mentioning 
that  four  of  these  five  men  named  on  these  committees  were  grad- 
uates of  American  colleges.  Jay  graduated  from  Columbia,  in 
1764;  Morris  from  Y^ale,  in  1746;  Hobart  from  Yale,  in  1757; 
and  Livingston  from  Columbia,  in  1765.  It  is  not  a  fact  that 
should  surprise  us  that  the  influences  of  a  liberal  culture  should  ap- 
pear in  the  determination  of  such  men  regarding  the  symbols  of 
the  new  State,  even  if  they  did  not  })ersonally  originate  them. 
And  it  is  worth  remembering  that  the  acted  drama  had  been  intro- 
duced in  New  York  since  1753,  and  the  plays  of  Sliakspeare  were 
repeated  on  the  boards  of  the  theater. 

The  liberal  education  which  these  members  of  the  committees  of 
the  convention  had  received  test^es  that  they  were  men  of  as  high 
culture  as  any  to  be  found  in  the  thirteen  colonies.  This,  with 
their  personal  history,  gives  us  the  assurance  that  they  were  either 
thoroughly  competent  themselves  to  devise  arms  for  the  State  with 
the  symbolical  perfection  and  heraldic  com})leteness  which  we  find 
in  our  arms  to-day ;  or  to  influence  and  approve  of  the  adoption  of 
such  rich  insignia  if  prepared  for  them  by  another  person  under 
their  direction.    In  their  numerous  traits  they  surpass  in  beauty 


No.  61.] 


31 


and  dignity  any  thing  wliich  had  been  devised  for  any  of  the  colo- 
nies up  to  that  time.  And  tliey  do,  therefore,  in  every  aspect  in 
which  we  may  regard  them,  rightfully  claim  our  highest  respect. 

The  arms  which  these  fathers  of  the  State  have  left  us  as  their 
legacy  bring  us  on  the  one  hand  into  the  direct  use  of  a  symbol 
which  for  now  nearly  four  hundred  years,  when  found  in  its  appro- 
priate place,  has  suggested  to  the  mind  of  the  beholder  the  interests 
which  belong  to  the  name  of  York."  With  the  difference  that  the 
symbol  of  the  Highlands  and  the  Hudson  being  conjoined  in  the 
same  shield  with  that  of  the  sun,  the  sight  now  suggests  to  us  the 
interests  and  sympathies  of  the  people  of  the  whole  State  of  NeiD 
York.  If  there  be  any  one  who  has  any  doubts  about  the  signifi- 
cance and  grand  expressiveness  for  this  State  of  that  portion  of  the 
device  of  the  arms  which  represents  the  great  geographical  feature 
of  the  State,  the  chasm  of  the  Hudson  river,  let  him  familiarize 
himself  with  the  eloquent  descriptions  of  the  marvelous  geographi- 
cal position  of  New  York  in  the  Union  as  given  repeatedly  by  Hon. 
Horatio  Seymour  in  his  discourses  touching  upon  the  subject,  and 
his  doubts  will  disappear. 

The  briefest  summary  of  the  meaning  of  our  arms  is,  that  the 
shield  symbolizes  in  the  full  sun  the  name  and  idea  of  Old  Y'ork 
and  the  old  world  ;  the  mountains,  river  and  meadow,  with  the 
ships,  convey  the  name  and  idea  of  the  New  York  of  the  new. 
world.  This  New  York  is  supported  by  Justice  and  Liberty,  and 
discards  monarchy.  By  exhibiting  the  ea:3teni  and  western  conti- 
nents on  a  globe,  the  old  and  new  are  brought  together,  while  the 
eagle  of  the  crest  proclaims,  "  Westward  the  course  of  empire  takes 
its  way." 

The  process  of  retracing  our  steps  to  where  the  State  started 
from  in  17Y7  may  seem  needlessly  tedious  ;  it  has,  however,  taken 
several  of  the  States  more  than  three  years  to  render  complete  their 
remedial  legislation  in  the  same  circumstances;  and  if  the  plans  of 
the  commissioners  are  communicated  to  the  people  for  discussion 
before  attempting  any  legal  enactment,  the  result  will  probably 
be  such  measures  as  will  secure  a  lixedness  and  uncliangeableness 
in  the  representation  of  the  arms  wherever  used  in  the  State. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  your  most  obedient  ser- 
vant, 

HENRY  A.  HOMES. 

State  Library,  Albany,  April^  1881. 


Plate  ]. 


ARMS  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK:. 
FA.C  SIMILE 
of  the  IriTtial  T,  eTi^xawd  on 
Al^ET\^ybRK  MlLTTAR\^  CoMMISSTO]S^ 
from  Gro^^  Gr.  Clinton , 
of  June  25,1178. 


J 


Plate  2 


FAC  si:mile 

OF  AXEW  YORK  REGI]VrEXTAL  FEACr 
OF  1778. 


Tlate  3 


i 


Plate  4 


SKETCH  OE  THE  ARMS 
AS  HESTOHED  EOH  THE  ACTLOX  OE  THE 
XEGISHATITRE . 


